Battle system (Bonds of Blood)
The battle system of the Bonds of Blood persistent world introduces the possibility of a "surprise round" at the beginning of each encounter. It also introduces the possibility of grappling and of using an ability or skill check to withdraw from combat. In addition, there is a penalty for switching items. Surprise round There are a number of different scenarios under which a surprise round can happen. When a surprise round occurs, the group with "battle initiative" is given a free combat round while the other group is prevented from acting. The factors affecting battle initiative include stealth, detection, and a customized initiative roll. For this system, stealth skills are given minimums of zero, which can greatly ameliorate penalties, such as the armor check penalty. The first step in determining battle initiative is determining who can see who. Invisibility (but not sanctuary) can render either group unseen. In addition, a group that is in stealth mode is entitled to a hide skill check, while the other group gets a spot opposed check. If the spot check fails, the stealthed group is unseen and will be invisible during the surprise round. These skill checks are made on a partywide, rather than individual, basis; the hiding group's average hide skill is used, opposed by the highest spot skill in the other group. The second step occurs when one or both groups are unseen. A group that is unseen and in stealth mode makes a move silently skill check in an attempt to remain fully undetected. This is opposed by the other group's listen check. If the listen check is successful, a visual effect will be placed at the location of the heard enemy, indicating from where the sound came. As with spotting, the skill checks are made on a partywide basis, with the average move silently skill opposed by the highest listen skill. The final step is a customized initiative roll. This roll differs from the standard initiative roll in that the bonuses from blooded and thug are not included. The server documentation is unclear as to how this individual roll is translated into a partywide roll; the phrase used is "the highest total dexterity" with "total" seemingly qualified by the group (meaning the sum of each group member's dexterity, giving an advantage to large groups), but the intent might be the highest initiative modifier among the group's members. Whether or not this step is necessary depends on the current scenario. If this roll is used and the results are a tie, there is no battle initiative. Scenarios There are six scenarios that can occur, based on the above checks. Some of these scenarios automatically grant battle initiative to one group (called "auto initiative"), while others use the customized initiative roll. In brief, if both (or if neither) groups detect each other, there is a roll for initiative, while if (exactly) one group remains undetected, the undetected group gets auto initiative. ; Normal encounter : Both groups see each other. The initiative roll is used to determine who, if anyone, has the battle initiative. :; Overpowered :: If one group is "overpowered" in a normal encounter, that group may flee. ; One group spots and the other group hears : If one group spots the other while the other group hears (but does not spot) the first, then the initiative roll is used to determine who, if anyone, has the battle initiative. (A visual effect will reveal the location of the group that was heard.) ; One group startled : One group spots the other while the other group neither spots nor hears the first. The group that spotted the other automatically gets battle initiative. :; Surrounded or cornered :: If the unseen group's hide check exceeded the opposed spot check by at least five, the unseen group gets a +4 morale bonus to attack rolls (in addition to automatic battle initiative). :; Sneak attack :: If the unseen group's hide check exceeded the opposed spot check by at least ten, the seen group gets a -4 penalty to armor class (in addition to the unseen group getting +4 to attack rolls and automatic initiative). ; Both groups hear each other : If neither group spots the other, but both groups hear each other, then the initiative roll is used to determine who, if anyone, has the battle initiative. (A visual effect will reveal the locations of the groups.) ; Only one group hears the other group : If neither group spots the other but (only) one of the groups hears the other, then the group that heard the other automatically gets battle initiative. (A visual effect will reveal the location of the group that was heard.) ; Both groups startled : Both groups neither spot nor hear each other. The initiative roll is used to determine who, if anyone, has the battle initiative. Results Various visual effects are used in the implementation of a surprise round. ; Red circle : Signals the start of an encounter and appears at the center location of the party. ; Gold circle : When a gold symbol drops around a character or enemy it means, "go" for that individual. This also represents the end of the surprise round for that individual, signaling that they can move freely in real-time. ; Green visual effect : Used to show the position of enemies that are seen or heard. ; Surprise round invisibility : A group that is unseen by the other group will be made invisible for the surprise round. Monsters will position themselves based on the scenario. For example, if the scenario calls for the party to be surrounded, then the opposing monsters will be positioned close to the party in a circular formation. In underground terrain, the distance to monsters will be decreased by half due to echoes, narrow corridors, dust, and low light. Encounters Monster spawns are based on the area's terrain type, the area's challenging rating, and the time of day. The number of monsters spawned is based on the area's challenge rating and the size of the party (counting only player characters). The character level of party members is not taken into account. The probability of a new encounter increases as a party moves away from its last encounter location. Encounter probability is also higher at night. If a party stays within 30 meters of its last encounter then the party will not get a new battle. On occasion, a party might retreat and get a new encounter. If creatures from a previous encounter are following, they will be included in the calculations of the new battle scenario, but those creatures will not be invisible since they are already seen and heard. Grappling Grappling allows a character to grab a target and stop it from attacking. A small creature can grapple a target from 2 meters away, a medium creature from 3 meters away, and a large creature can grapple a target from 4 meters away. When making a grapple an attempt and while actively grappling a target, a grappler loses his dexterity bonus to armor class (AC). Victims of a successful grapple take a 0 to −4 dodge AC penalty for the duration of the grapple, with the size of the penalty depending on the grapple technique to which they are subject. A grapple attempt must pass two checks to be successful. The first check determines if the grapple hits, using grappler's d20 + base attack + strength modifier + grapple size modifier versus target's AC (with the qualification that the server's documentation only specifically mentions the small and medium size modifiers for this roll). If the grapple hits, a second check is made to see if it is successful. The roll is basically the same as the one made to see if the grapple hits, but this time both attacker and defender roll it. That is, grappler's d20 + base attack + strength modifier + grapple size modifier versus target's d20 + base attack + strength modifier + grapple size modifier. (For these rolls, the server's documentation only specifically mentions the small, medium, and large size modifiers.). If grappling with a weapon or shield in hand the grappler takes a -10 penalty to his grapple roll. The kinds of grappling are the following. ; Grapple pin : Pinning is equivalent to tackling and requires the knockdown feat. A pinned target remains grappled for a long duration. The grappler remains on the ground with the pinned target and is vulnerable to attacks from other creatures. If a grappler attempts to pin a target and fails, the grappler will be knocked down for a long duration. ; Grapple hold : Holding is equivalent to a bear hug. Holding has a medium duration and leaves both grappler and target on their feet. The grappler must hold the target for the duration and cannot defend himself. If the grappler misses a hold attempt, he will be vulnerable to attacks from other creatures for a medium duration. ; Grapple hit : This move is equivalent to holding the target for rabbit punches and requires the grappler to be unarmed. The target is held for only a short duration, but a single attack is performed before the target is freed. If the grappler fails, he will be vulnerable to attacks for a short duration. ; Grapple break free : This move is used to free an ally from a grapple and is targeted on the grappled ally. Switching items Unequipping an item during combat takes about one "action" to complete, represented by a player character having a -20 penalty to attack rolls while the item swap is considered to be in progress. The more attacks per round a character has, the less time the swap will take. Withdraw A character may attempt to withdraw from battle by using the withdraw device. This type of withdrawal can only be attempted while the character is in combat, meaning that the rest icon is yellow and an enemy has attacked the character in the preceding round. Using the device to withdraw from battle requires a successful opposed check, either opposed dexterity checks (d20 + dexterity modifier, with opponents getting a single roll using their average modifier and ties going to the opponents) or a bluff skill check opposed by the enemy's d20 + hit dice + wisdom modifier (it is not documented which enemy makes this roll when the withdrawer is fighting multiple enemies). If successful, the withdrawer will be given a single round to escape from the enemy's line of sight. Stealth mode may be used in conjunction with this. Using this type of withdrawal too often comes with a risk of getting fatigued. Fatigue is as in tabletop Dungeons & Dragons: -2 strength, -2 dexterity, and slowness. Withdrawal fatigue lasts for one hour. A character can attempt withdrawals once every (40 − constitution modifier) rounds without this risk.